A Home Within The Madness
by OckGal
Summary: Plagued by nightmares, Otto sets out to find a place to regain his sanity and runs into a college art student who's now living in his former home.
1. Default Chapter

**A Home Within The Madness

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_Chapter Rating: G_

_Discaimer: Otto Octavius, Spider-Man and other copyrighted characters and/or places are copyrighted to their respectful owners._

_Author's Notes: I never have the patience to write in chapters. I always have to do things all at once, or I rarely come back and finish things, but hopefully I find the motivation to keep up with this one. I have a few ideas and just wanted to get it started. Chapters mean you can't go back and change things to go a different route, so I think of it as more of a challenge. Kudos to those who can handle that! Oh, and this is based on movie Ock, of course.

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CHAPTER 1

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"I….WILL….NOT….DIE….A….MONSTER!"

"You're **gonna** die if you don't shut up, over there!"

Otto stirred on his tiny cot, opened his eyes and tried to focus on the darkness surrounding him.

"Wha- Where am--"

"Hey, pal!" came the mysterious voice in the darkness. "I said shut up!"

Sitting up, Otto blinked several times, wiped his eyes and squinted into the thick black atmosphere. After several minutes, his eyes began to adjust and he remembered where he was.

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After much finance juggling and begging the current building owner, the former home of Doctor Otto Octavius was now the new residence of art student Annie Sheldon. After the incident with Dr. Octavius, the building was sold, fixed up a minimal amount and rented out. Annie knew it would be the perfect place to set up her art supplies and have the privacy she looked forward to.

Granted, she had to do a lot of the fixing up, herself. The structure of the building was repaired, but the décor was left with very little appeal. What money she had left over from the first rent payment was used to buy more home supplies than food. She could always bum a few meals off some friends if need be. But, the walls needed some paint and the floors needed sweeping and buffing, so it was cleanliness before nourishment.

After a week of cleaning, it was just about finished. All it needed was a big painting to christen it. The only thing was, Annie had a bit of artist's block at the moment. She chalked it all up to the vibes at school. She didn't feel as though she fit in. Sure, she had a couple friends, but she was never one to really get into the whole social thing, and she got quite a bit of grief from the other students about it. Hearing people call you a freak and saying you're an outsider kind of puts a damper on one's artistic moods.

But now she was out of the dorm and occupying the perfect place to get away from it all. Here she would hope to achieve her best painting, ever. As soon as the idea for it came to her.

Finishing her cup of warm coco, she flipped off the small TV, curled up into bed and quickly fell asleep.

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…._Must not lose my temper_…._Can't afford to bring attention to myself_…._Have no where else to go_….

Otto laid back down on his flimsy cot and tried to ignore the fact that someone had been so forwardly rude to him. Didn't they know who he was? Or rather who he **had** been, once?

After escaping the hospital, Otto wandered aimlessly through the city, sleeping in alleyways, parks, and even sewers. Realizing the weather was getting colder and he had nowhere else to go, he decided to seek refuge at the local shelter for the homeless. Many a petty criminal had found a temporary home, here. Nobody asked any questions and nobody made any friends in this place. Even the police stayed away. As long as these guys were off the streets for a while, it was one less thing to worry about.

Months on the streets had taken their toll on Otto. His mind was disintegrating and he could feel each brain cell fritz out as time went by. And now, for the last week, he's been cramped up in this smelly, damp, germ-infested building with who knows what kind of people, and the nightmares he'd been having have increased in intensity.

Nightmares of what did happen--Rosie being taken from him, the horrible pain of electrocution, the horrifying images of the hospital incident--and what never happened--robbing a bank, fighting Spider-Man, rebuilding his life's work, sacrificing himself to save the city from his own creation--plagued his mind. It was time to get out of this dreadful place and find a new sanctuary. Somewhere that would allow him to regain his sanity. Somewhere that would be "home."


	2. A Home With The Madness Chapter 2

**A Home Within The Madness 

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**

_Chapter Rating: G_

_Discaimer: Otto Octavius, Spider-Man and other copyrighted characters and/or places are copyrighted to their respectful owners._

_Author's Notes: Thanks to those who reviewed. This'll be done in little chapters (as you can see) cos I can only think of new stuff in little bits. I'm used to thinking of a story and putting it all out at once.

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CHAPTER 2

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Annie was sound asleep, dreaming of riding a large white horse through a beautiful green field in the country. She slowed to a gallop, then a stop, un-mounted her horse and gave him a pat on the neck. The horse opened its mouth and a loud chime sound came out. Annie bent down and looked into the horses mouth, seeing a small telephone on his tongue.

She woke up, and after a few seconds of having no idea what was going on, she realized the phone was ringing.

"He….llo?"

"Annie, it's Ray. You weren't in bed already, were you?"

Ray was a good school friend of Annie's. Apparently he had forgotten that she likes to get to bed some time before 1am.

"Huh? Oh. No, I was just watching TV. What's up?"

"Okay. I won't be able to make it for that art show, tomorrow. My brother's in town for the next few days and he wants to spend some time with me. We'll do it some other time, all right?"

"But-- Yeah, sure."

Annie had been looking forward to seeing the art show for weeks, and it was only on display for one more night. Ray had agreed to go with her, tomorrow, but leave it to him to wait until the very last minute and then cancel, leaving Annie in a rut. She'd have to go alone, or not at all, now. But she didn't wanna let on that it bothered her so much. Ray wouldn't have cared, anyway. He was that sort of person.

"Great. I'll catch you later, An. Bye."

Click.

Annie hung up the phone, sighed and tried to figure out if she wanted to go alone, or not. She didn't like the idea of walking around in a room full of people all by herself. She had hoped to have someone to talk to while she examined the art. All her other friends had already made other plans, or just didn't wanna go with her. She wondered if they were even her friends at all. But rather than dissect the thought of that, she rolled over and fell back to sleep.

"Yes," Otto thought aloud, "This place has grown old. It's time we found a new place to live out our misery."

While most of the people in the shelter didn't take any notice of another rambling being in their presence, there was that **one **man who found Otto's disturbances annoying. Or maybe he was just trying to start something. Either way, Otto had had enough.

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"HEY!" came that all-too-familiar voice that Otto had come to know in his time spent there, "I said 'SHUT UP!' You think you can handle that?! If not, I can come over there and **shut **you up, **myself**!"

That had been the last straw. Looking straight ahead, and not anywhere near the guy, the left corner of Otto's mouth curled up and formed a smirk. He lowered his head slightly, picturing his next move and how wonderful it would feel.

One of his upper tentacles shot straight out, latched onto the annoying man's throat, lifted him up into the air, shook him violently and slammed him into the wall ahead of Otto's view. He watched as the tentacle released the limp body and it slid down the wall, slumping over onto the floor.

"Try it," Otto said, still smirking.

Knowing that he'd overstayed his welcome, he grabbed his coat--the one he had acquired from a local pawn shop, which happened to have been closed at his time of entry--and swung his legs around to the side of the bed. He had kept the tentacles hidden beneath the coat during the day, and kept them hidden under the blanket during the night. But now he felt no harm in letting them out for some air. He had already screwed things up enough that would make him unable to remain in the shelter. The cops didn't like coming near the place, but they'd surely show up for a murder.

As the tentacles rose around him, Otto heard several gasps in the darkness. Most of these guys had seen some crazy things in their lifetimes, but this was too much for a few of them. Several bodies grabbed their belongings and darted for the exit. Otto's first instinct was to lash out and grab them; break their necks and silence them. But he could use them to his advantage. If he was the only one missing when the authorities showed up, everyone would know he did it. But if there were several people missing, he'd have a better chance. Who's to say that any of those escapees couldn't have attacked that loud-mouthed nuisance?

And what about the others? Those who **had **seen what had happened--but didn't run--just fell back to sleep, probably relieved that the guy was dead. The others were either used to the noise, or were too drunk, or high, to even notice.

Otto stood, put on his coat and walked over to the bed of the man he had just murdered. He bent down and retrieved a dark brown Fedora hat, tilted his head and smiled.

"At least he had **some **taste."

He placed the hat on his head and walked out into the chilled night air; homeless, once again.


End file.
